Fireside Chats
by supernovacaine
Summary: A killer, a campfire, and a quickly silenced scream. / Lab Rats AU / I do not own Lab Rats


I suddenly realized that I loved the smell of burning cedar wood.

I loved everything about the campfire; the crackling of the flames, the heat that pressed itself against my face, the laughter of my friends and I as we chanted out campfire songs.

In truth, I'd never so much as seen the woods before, save for when we were on missions. But there wasn't really time to stop and smell the roses in those situations.

Now, with the slivers of star-speckled sky peering down at me through the branches, I could truly appreciate the beauty of the forest.

"Bree, can you toss me the marshamllows?" Allie's voice broke me out of my thoughts. "Who's up for some s'mores?" she grinned, digging the graham crackers out of her bag.

She was met with cheers, but I looked around, confused. "What's a s'more?"

I could've sworn that every single one of their mouths fell open simultaneuosly.

"You've never had a s'more?" Kylie sputtered incredulously.

I shook my head. "Um, no?"

"You've never _lived_ ," Harper said in a dramatic manner.

"Here," Johanna said, stacking a square of chocolate and a toasted marshmallow on top of a graham cracker and then sandwiching it between a second cracker. "Your transition into normalcy begins now."

 _Normalcy. Little did she know._

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. It looked appealing, but it was gooey and stuck to my fingers. Nevertheless, I sunk my teeth in.

I was met with an explosion of taste. The crumbly graham cracker gave way to the bittersweet chocolate, which soon surrendered to the steaming marshmallow that nearly scalded my tongue in a burst of sticky sweetness.

"This is amazing!" I exclaimed through a mouth full of marshmallow, taking a second bite.

This time, the crunch of the graham cracker under my teeth was met with a loud crack from within the forest.

"What was that?" Caitlyn asked nervously.

"It was probably just a bear," Kylie assured her.

That seemed to only succeed in furthering Caitlyn's fear. " _Just_ a bear?"

Allie rolled her eyes. "Oh relax. Bear attacks are very uncommon, usually only occuring when the animal's territory or family is threatened. Most attacks have happened in smaller groups of two or three, and never groups of six or more. We'll be fine as long as we stay together and close to the campfire."

I hadn't realized that we had brought a female version of Chase with us.

I was pondering the similarities between the blonde and my younger brother when a shout rang in my ears, followed my hurried scuffling and a crack that mimicked a gunshot.

Tense silence hung in the air.

"That," I said, swallowing dryly. "Was certainly not a bear."

Caitlyn shook her head, trembling, while Harper looked unsure of whether to laugh or not, and settled for a dry, anxious smile.

Johanna stood up. "I'll go and check it out. Allie, give me the flashlight."

"Did you not hear what I just said? We have to stay together and stay close to the campfire!" Allie protested. "Splitting up is the worst possible thing to do."

"That's in the event of a bear, Allie, and I think we can all agree that whatever's out there is no bear," Johanna said with exasperation.

"Can we even be sure something's 'out there'? You hear strange sounds in the forest all the time, right?" I attempted to reason.

Johanna gave me a look that resembled the one Chase would give to Adam when the latter said something ridiculous. "Did you not just hear the _human voice_ cry out and the sound of a _gunshot_? Somebody's in trouble, and I'm going to go and see what's happened. You guys should stay here. I'll call for help if anything happens."

"Let me go with you," I said. "I can help if anything goes wrong."

"There isn't any reason for all of us to go. You'd just be putting yourself in danger."

I was bionic. I could take care of myself. But she didn't know that, and hopefully never would.

"There isn't any reason for any of us to go," Harper piped up. "What if you get hurt?"

Johanna flashed her a grin, digging a flashlight out of Allie's backpack. "I'll be fine. It's you guys I'm worried about. All the easy targets, grouped in one place..."

Caitlyn shifted worriedly, while Kylie rolled her eyes. "Easy targets, yeah right. Whatever it is, that thing's gonna have a heck of a time trying to take me out."

We all laughed, despite the dark mood that had quickly swallowed us up.

"Be careful, alright?" I told Johanna.

She nodded, suddenly somber. "I will."

She spun on her heel and disappeared into the forest.

This was a bad idea. And I knew it, even then. But I also knew Johanna, and she wouldn't take no for an answer.

We waited in silence and concern, too nervous to even roast a marshmallow or humm a campfire tune.

After a while, I heard Allie mutter under her breath. "She should've been back by now. It didn't sound very far away."

 _Johanna's tough,_ I tried to reassure myself. _She'll be fine. Perfectly fine._

It was difficult not to assume the worst.

Especially when a scream punctured the air. Her scream.

"Johanna!" Kylie cried, taking off into the wood.

"Kylie, wait!" Harper called after her. "We have to stay together. We'll find Johanna, I swear."

Kylie nodded. "C'mon," she said.

Five pairs of sneakers pounded against the earth.

 _It should have been six._

I could have gone tearing off in front of all of them, but I willed myself not to use my superspeed.

Caution and silence were thrown to the wind as we streaked between the trees. I couldn't tell you how long we had been running when the trees parted and we reached a clearing.

Kylie stopped short, and I nearly ran into her.

"Kylie, wha-?" I sucked in my breath sharply and the dark-haired girl crumpled to her knees.

"No, no, _no,_ " she whispered.

Johanna's face was white, her lips painted bright red with the blood that trickled down from them.

"Jo," Kylie choked, nearly as white as her friend. " _No_ , godammit, _please_ no."

I heard a gasp and a sob from behind me. Allie, Harper, and Caitlyn had caught up to us.

Harper had buried her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking. Allie stood with a slack jaw and a horrified look on her face, tears trickling down her cheeks. Caitlyn was gripping handfuls of her own hair, looking shocked and terrified.

I had joined Kylie on the ground, too appalled to do so much as cry. I wrapped a shaking arm around Kylie.

She and Johanna had been best friends long before the six of us had met. They were closer than any pair of friends I had ever met, and now...

It was all my fault. I should've gone with her. I was bionic, I could've protected her. I could've saved her life.

"Somebody-" Allie choked through a sob. "Somebody call the police."

 **A/N**

 **So...? What did you think?**

 **Was it too cliche? I feel like it was too cliche.**

 **This is my first Bree fanfic, and it was chock-full of OC's. I know it never showed any of her friends in the show (save Caitlyn) but in One of Us, she did say that she had tons of friends from high school that Adam and Chase didn't know about. So, these are said friends.**

 **Don't worry, more chapters are on the way, but in the meantime, read and review!**

 ****Okay spoiler alert: if you haven't seen Space Colony yet I advise you to stop reading now.**

 **Who else saw Space Colony on Wednesday? That episode was one of the better ones of Season 4 (it didn't hold a candle to Bionic Action Hero, though). However, I didn't really like Krane's death, personally I thought it was a lot of wasted potential. They could've done a lot more with the idea that Krane came back to life, and his death was somewhat anticlimactic and not as epic as I had hoped. I really liked Adam's heroic moment though, that was spectacular, and just the idea of Davenportia blew my mind (yes, I admit, I was seriously geeking out the whole episode). I was kind of hoping for a little bit more sibling bonding at the end though, mainly Adam/Chase, like "Oh Adam, I want you to know that I love you, I could never live with myself if something had happened to you, I'm sorry for all the super jerky things that I said, etc, etc." (He nearly died because of you, Chase). Chase was really snarky throughout the entire episode, which was frankly a bit out of character, and I was really shocked at how he kept pushing Adam past his limits with the rocket suit and stuff. I was expecting him to at the very least apologize for nearly _killing him_. But alas, what can be done? So I will end my rant here and allow you to continue with your lives (which are probably far more interesting than listening to me point out every flaw in each episode). **

**(I am also hoping that more Bree-centered episodes will be on their way).**

 **Thank you so much guys! I hope you enjoy my newest story!**

 **~nova**


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